A Drop Filled With Memories
by amantle
Summary: Space AU. Paine wakes up on an unknown ship with almost no memory. She soon becomes part of the ship's Crew. With them, she travels the universe hunting bounties and completing miscellaneous tasks while trying to regain her memory. Adventure and romance await; but will all fall apart when a certain force makes itself known?
1. Chapter 1

Despite her current predicament, the view was beautiful.

She was caught in the orbit of a large blue planet.

It kind of looked like home from where she sat in the cockpit, floating along, hoping for someone- anyone- to answer her distress signal. She was running out of oxygen fast. They could be pirates for all she cared.

The small silver pocket watch clicked open when prompted. Crimson eyes stared back at her through the reflection. Paine focused past it and sighed as the seconds hand struck twelve for what would be the last time before she was deprived of air.

Shit. She was light headed now. Her vision swam. Paine shut the cover of the watch and ran a thumb over her family crest on the outside. She shut her eyes in time to hear a faint crackle over the radio.

Then all was dark.

X

Paine cracked her eyes open. She was warm and there was a bright light blinding her. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust. There was a soft hum in the background.

"Am I dead?"

There was a muffled noise coming from her left. She turned her head. _What the fuck?_

She saw a blurred silhouette of yellow, white, and olive. She reached out and hit some sort of opaque barrier that rippled when she touched it. A moment later the barrier receded.

"Hey, sorry, you probably couldn't hear me through the quarantine shield. I said, no, you're not dead, by the way."

The silhouette had turned into a young woman. She had a mess of blonde hair on her head that had been haphazardly thrown up with a blue bandana that kept most of her hair and beaded braids out of her face. She was delicately tanned and was wearing a white beater and an olive coverall with the top tied around her waist.

Paine tried to recollect how she'd gotten here. She knew she had been in trouble. Big trouble.

"You saved me."

"Mm," the blonde brought a finger to her lip for a moment, tilting her head slightly."Well, yeah I guess it was me...Well, me and Buddy. I was the one who fixed the radio after Shinra installed a new warp drive and short circuited half the ship. Then Brother wasn't even going to bother going all the way over to Xenkro after we picked up your SOS. So I beat him up and co-piloted while Buddy steered on over to you."

"Thanks," Paine sat up and slung her legs over the side of the machine. "Where am I?"

"The Celsius. We found you orbiting Xenkro, like I said."

"Never heard of it," Paine said tiredly. Her back was a little sore from laying on the rigid Plexiglas of what was probably a medical cot. She recognized the basic design, although there were a ton of upgrades she didn't.

"Oh, the Celsius is just our little ring ding ship we use to hunt the occasional bounty," the blonde replied rocking on her heels slightly with her hands clasped behind her back.

"I meant 'Xenkro' but I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh, right, right. Well not a lot of people come out here. It's mostly a hangout for baddies," the blonde stilled and furrowed her brows a moment. "What are you doing out here anyway?"

Paine pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned forward to rest her elbow on her knee. "All I remember is seeing a nebula nearby and flying toward it... Then I- shit- I blinked and I was in a galaxy I didn't recognize flying around for hours trying to figure out where the hell I was."

"Well, which nebula was it? What planet are you from? I know different races call it different things, but we might be able to help anyway."

Paine tried to remember, she really did. Nothing was coming to her. _Fuck._

The blonde continued, "But I mean, you speak fluently in one of the Universal languages, so you

could be from anywhere really."

Paine sighed and ran a hand through her silver locks. "I don't remember any of those things… The nebula…" She closed her eyes and tried to picture it. "It looked like an eye. An eye of a cat." She opened her eyes again. "And I do remember thinking this 'Xenkro' looked like my home planet."

The blonde took a seat next to Paine, "Well that narrows it down a little. Not by much but it's a start... Do you remember anything else by chance? Name? Family members? Pet? Something like that."

"I remember my name, or at least what I remember being called..."

The blonde looked at her expectantly. Paine stared at her.

"Well, what is it then?"

"...Paine."

"'Paine', huh? Could be a surname... But you never know these days. Maybe it's a nickname 'cause you like to bring the hurt or something," the blonde speculated.

"No, my last name was different... Rydell." It had come to her easier than she'd expected.

"Hm. Well, I don't want to push you too hard, but if you want we have a few items we retrieved from your craft. I put them in a room for you, so maybe that can help." The blonde hopped off her seat next to Paine. "Your jacket is up there as well. I'll bring you there now."

The blonde looked her up and down. "You definitely like your black, hm? It's not a bad look for you. The shirt matches your eyes too." She winked and started off down the hallway.

Paine looked herself over. Maroon Henley tee with the top two buttons undone, fitted black cargo pants and black boots. She shrugged. Whatever.

She got up and followed the blonde woman through the door, which slid open then closed behind her with a hiss. They passed a series of rooms down a short hallway until they came to a lift. After they had entered, the blonde spoke up. "The living quarters are on the third floor, along with the rec room and the bar. Most of the crew eats at different times. Multiple shifts, ya know. So It never really gets that crowded. Anyway, we were just on the second floor which is medical. The hangars are on either side of the ship, accessible from just below the bridge. Underneath the bridge is the engine room. I spend most of my time there, when I don't have an active bounty at least. I'm the head mechanic and these noobs wouldn't know how to fix a Hyperion Warp Drive System if a handbook for it hit 'em in the head and opened up to the right page." Paine nodded absently. The lift came to a halt and the two walked out onto the third floor.

The blonde rambled on. "I mean, Shinra could but he's a lazy little butt head and top procrastinator if it has nothing to do with his current project."

They took the first left and walked past two doors. They stopped at the third one on the left and the blonde opened the door with the press of a button.

"Mkay, this is you," she said to Paine and motioned her inside.

Paine walked into a small room, the walls were whitewashed. Directly in front of her were four coat hooks. Her black leather jacket hung from one. There was a single bed to her left with white sheets and a navy blanket, a small pillow at the head of the bed. To her right was a small desk with a chair and a shelf next to it. On the desk were a few small items. Paine walked over to them and picked up each one, studying them carefully.

One silver pocket watch with a symbol engraved on it. She opened it up. The numbers were in numerals and the glass had a single crack running from bottom left to top right. She knew this was important, it held some sort of sentimental value, she was sure. She would ponder more on it later.

Next was one pack of smokes. There were twelve left. Menthol apparently, with the logo 'B&W' on either side in bold white lettering on a dark green background. There was a book of matches stuffed in the clear cellophane that was left on the pack. She took it out. Just plain white. No logos, nothing on the inside flap either. She put the matches back and put the pack down to examine the next item.

One tactical knife with a belt clip on the sheath. It had a black handle that was worn with use but the blade itself was sharp. She put that down too and took a seat at the desk chair.

The blonde was still standing at the door, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed.

"Anything?"

Paine shook her head.

"You also had a pistol and some mags but we put those away for now. Mm, there is one thing though, we can take a look at your ship. We checked the registration, or at least we tried, but it seems like the system is corrupt. It needs a sweep and a reboot, see if we can salvage anything. Follow me, I'll take you to the hangar."

The two started down the hall and into the lift once more. They exited at the bridge and took a right down a ramp and into the bay area. There were two people dressed in the same coveralls as the blonde, bickering with each other. The taller one was waving a power tool around gesturing dangerously. The other, more petite, was impatiently tapping a foot waiting for the other to finish.

"Ahkay, here we are." The blonde motioned to the single pilot space fighter.

Paine walked up to it and put a hand on the sleek silver exterior. The word 'Terpsichore' was painted on the side in script. The letters were gold with a white outline. She climbed up the ladder and sat in the cockpit.

"Terpsichore..." She muttered, looking along the side panels and then to the controls. She spotted three raised letters right under the front windshield. "C. PR?" Paine wondered aloud.

The blonde had climbed up the ladder in the meantime, resting her arms on the side of the cockpit. "Yeah, that's what I had to do to you by the time we got you aboard."

Paine gave her a sideways glance, "Anything else I should know about?"

"Nope. Well, I almost had your clothes cut off."

"..."

"To make sure you weren't hurt anywhere else!" She looked a little uneasy and after a beat she said, "Well it was more like ripped off. There was nothing sharp around at the time. Besides that knife you had but I didn't know you had it then and it was all just kind of a blur. But as you can see Buddy brought me to my 'senses'," she made air quotes, "And we just stuck you in the Med Bed instead to scan for viruses, internal bleeding, lacerations, and such." She nodded enthusiastically. "But, oh! Things you should know, right? You're healthy! Like, really healthy."

"Good to know. I'll count myself lucky. It's just a bonus that I got to keep the only clothes I have intact."

"Hey, I would have lent you something!"

Paine gave her an incredulous look, "Yeah, I'm sure they wouldn't be bursting at the seams at all." She was a few inches taller than the blonde and a couple sizes larger as well.

"Well, not lend you my clothes, if that's what you're getting at, ya big meanie. I meant a standard white tee shirt and these atrocious coveralls I'm wearing. We've got extras in storage and they're not all my size."

"Uh huh. I should thank this 'Buddy' guy later. Anyway, this 'C. PR'," she said changing the subject, "it's got to be my name, but what's the C for? Maybe its-"

"A title?" The blonde cut in. "Corporal, Captain- oh, oh, Chancellor!"

"Actually, Captain sounds about right." There was something vague but familiar about the title. "Maybe there's something else, another clue or something in here." Paine felt around the bottom of the controls and along the side panels. There had to be something else. She just knew it. She experimentally hit the underside of her seat with a heel and a latch popped open. Something rolled out.

The blonde gaped when Paine picked it up. It was half a bottle of whiskey. There was an icon of a large fire bird and the words, 'Phoenix Fire Whiskey' on the label.

"Holy Lord Yevon Almighty in a hand basket," the blonde exclaimed, snatching the bottle from Paine's hands. "This shit must be fifty years old! I don't think they even make this stuff anymore."

"Where's it sold? Maybe I'm from somewhere close?" Paine half- asked hopefully, feeling around the hidden compartment for something else. She felt something.

"A planet on the outskirts of the Mermaid's Cove Galaxy. Sirena, I think it was called. But they went bankrupt after a merchant company from Gaia monopolized the market-"

"Wait, 'Gaia'? I recognize that name, it's a planet." She'd pulled out a pair of leather gloves. She threw them back in.

"Yeah, its- Hold up, do you think its where you're from?"

Paine tapped the side panel of the ship with an index finger, "No. I don't know. But I feel like I may have been there before at least."

"Hm... I don't think you should stress about it too much. Stress can cause memory loss, ya know." The blonde looked down at the bottle, "I think what you need is a little R&R." She looked back up at Paine. "And Yevon knows I need some."

The head mechanic slid down the ladder like she'd done it a thousand times and waved to Paine with the bottle. Paine shook her head and chuckled. If there was one thing she did remember, it was that she drank to forget.

She followed suit anyway and jumped off the last few rungs of the ladder. The blonde beamed at her with bright emerald eyes, a lighter spiral of green around her pupils. _Damn_. That's when Paine realized.

"Hey, what's your name?"

The woman with the exotic eyes smirked. "I thought you'd never ask. I'm Rikku."

X

"And then I smashed that peach!" Rikku exclaimed, pounding her right fist into the open palm of her other hand.

Paine took another swig of the Phoenix Fire Whiskey and sat the bottle down on the round table they were seated at across from the bar in the rec area.

"Oh, hey Buddy!" Rikku greeted to someone behind Paine. "Paine, this is Buddy. Buddy, Paine."

The silverette twisted around in her seat and stood up, extending a hand. "Thank you for picking me up. I would have died out there otherwise."

The dark man smiled warmly and grasped her hand. "Yeah, no problem. Glad we could help." Buddy dropped his hand addressing the perky blonde behind Paine. "You know Brother is going to have a conniption if he sees you drinking with a hitchhiker you just met like they're an old friend."

Rikku looked genuinely upset. "She's not a hitchhiker! She was a damsel in distress!"

Paine raised an eyebrow at that last remark, but ignored it.

Buddy sighed, "Technically, she is hitching a ride. I get what you mean though. That said, I may understand but Brother isn't going to be so accommodating."

"I don't care what that screeching wanker thinks!" Rikku was starting to raise her voice, her arms flailing. "If he weren't family I wouldn't be putting up with his shit!"

Buddy looked resigned at this point, "Okay, but I warned you." He turned to Paine. "If there's anything you need let that one know, hm?"

"I will." Paine nodded, adding, "I also have to thank you for not letting 'that one' tear my clothes to shreds."

"Ha, you may owe me for that. It was hard to convince her it wasn't necessary." He leaned in a little and whispered, "Ulterior motives is my best bet."

Rikku narrowed her eyes, "I can hear you. And there wasn't any ulterior motive at the time, ya know. I was really worried. Plus, if I really wanted to see her naked I would have every opportunity to do so when she showers. They're communal."

Paine looked amused. "Uh huh. Well if you're interested I'll let you know my schedule."

Rikku's eyes widened ever so slightly. "You know I was kidding right? I don't want to see you naked. I mean, I wouldn't mind seeing you naked, 'cause you're attractive and stuff and you look really fit. I'm sure you have nice breasts, too," she spluttered. "Not that I'm thinking about them, well I was, I mean, I am now-"

"And that's my cue. See you later girls." Buddy turned heel and left with a little wave.

The blonde abruptly stopped talking and opened her mouth again to fill it with whiskey. She was about to mention other details about the taller woman that she _wasn't_ thinking about. Buddy had luckily broke her humiliating babbling. She was caught a little off guard by Paine's teasing comment, but she'd let herself be smacked full force instead of dancing out of the way like she usually did. The alcohol she'd consumed was probably the cause.

This Paine person was still a stranger. Rikku didn't know much about her. Hell the woman in question didn't seem to know much either. Now, though, she did learn one thing. She wasn't afraid of a little teasing. Rikku liked teasing, too. But _she _was the one to tease. Not the other way around. Though, if it were this mysterious stranger…

Paine had taken a seat again and motioned for Rikku to pass her the bottle. She did so, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand after taking another swig. The little blonde was not going to hold onto the embarrassment. If she got hit, she recovered and jumped right back in.

"Hey, P?"

Paine was already looking at the shorter woman with interest. She dismissed the nickname. This one was cute. "Hm?"

She grabbed Paine's wrist and stood. "Time to go to the hangar. It's cigarette o'clock."

She wouldn't mind a cigarette, she vaguely remembered a time when she smoked. Maybe that was recently? "My smokes are in the room."

"We'll stop by there quick then." She smiled broadly when Paine complied and stood, motioning for the blonde to go first.

Paine was pleasantly buzzed and it seemed Rikku was as well if her rosy cheeks and slight sway were any indicator.

They made it down to the hangar after making the stop to Paine's room where they'd quickly polished off the bottle. Rikku insisted on not throwing it out ("It's probably collectible!") so they left it on the desk and grabbed the smokes.

"Over here," Rikku waved Paine over to the bay window toward the front of the ship. There was a large figure already sitting there with a cloud of smoke billowing around it's head before being swept up into the vent directly above. As they got closer, Paine could see the figure took a masculine shape, bulky and robust. Muscles clearly visible through the thermal shirt he was wearing. He was naturally tanned like Buddy, with black hair, an undercut with the top styled into a pompadour.

Rikku turned to Paine and put a finger to her lips, signaling her to keep quiet. She then crept up behind him and stuck her index finger through a large white gauge in his ear. "Boop! Gotcha again Turkey Boy!"

'Turkey Boy' turned his head, hazel eyes filled with mirth. "What's that make us now, Blondie?"

"Five-Two, me." Rikku plopped down next to him grinning. Paine took a seat on the other side of the blonde.

The man with the gauges looked over to the silverette and put a hand up in greeting. "Hey, I'm Turk." The gauges weren't the only piercings he had. There was a bar in there too, a few more horseshoes and studs on both lobes and some tiny ring piercing on the inside shell of his ear that she didn't know the name of, along with a septum piercing.

"Paine," she answered with a slight head nod, taking two cigarettes out and passing one to Rikku.

"Thanks P."

"You've got a nickname now too? That must be a new record. You haven't even been on the ship for a day," Turk said, taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

"Come on now, Turk. We're all friends here," the blonde pipped. "Plus, it's still a work in progress. I haven't settled on one yet. 'P' is temporary." She flipped open a lighter that seemingly came out of nowhere and lit her cigarette with it. Paine stuck hers between her lips as well.

"Here, here," Rikku said quickly, leaning over to light Paine's also, before the latter could strike a match. Paine leaned in too, covering the flame on one side so it wouldn't flicker about. Smoke expelled from her nostrils after she inhaled. Rikku flipped the lighter closed, extinguishing the flame.

"Nice lighter," Paine commented. The lighter was black with a matte finish and had etchings all over it.

"Yeah," Rikku held it up. "It's got carvings from different people I've met and cared about. Here." She held it out for Paine to take and examine for herself.

There was a heart with little swirls on either side, a numeral for fourteen with a large question mark next to it, some symbol that looked like a cross between a weapon and a bird, a flame, a sun with a smiley face in it, initials from various people, what looked like Rikku's own initials (she was guessing here), the words 'Proper Tidy', and then there were the words-

"'Pussy, Money, Weed?'" Paine looked at Rikku as she asked.

Rikku smiled a small smile and shrugged, "Yeah, this chick named Thea put it on there a while ago. She was one of the first people to write on it. Man, she was a blast."

Paine hummed. She could tell the little blonde was reminiscing. "One more thing, what the hell is this?" She pointed to it as she showed it to Rikku.

Turk was looking over the shorter woman's shoulder, "I always thought it was an owl."

"Is that what it is?" The silverette looked at the etching.

"No, it's a pair of boobs, see? Here are the boobs, these are the arms- he didn't have enough room for the elbows or anything- and that's the neck and bottom of her chin," Rikku explained to them both, pointing as she went along.

"I think I see it," Turk said with a hand on his chin, scratching at a bit of scruff. "So that little part under the boobs is the bellybutton."

Rikku nodded.

"She must have a pretty thick neck, it just goes straight up. The shoulders are nonexistent,"

Paine observed.

"Hey, never said he was a good artist. Plus, it's kind of hard to carve on this tiny thing."

"Fair enough," the silverette handed it back to Rikku and the blonde put it away.

Rikku leaned back on her right hand, cigarette in her left, and crossed her stretched out legs at the ankle. "So when are you going to think of something to add, oh Holy Eared One?"

Turk blew a puff of smoke out of the corner of his mouth and stubbed out the butt of his cigarette in the can between him and Rikku. "I'll just put the end score of out little game. Just three weeks left." He got up and dusted off his legs.

"Or until we get to Pig's Palace."

"Yeah that's right," Turk turned to walk away. "If that's not interesting enough, I could always put 'Chubby Chocobo'."

"Ha. Ha." Rikku glared at him and stuck her tongue out.

Turk just laughed. "Nice meeting you," he said to Paine.

"Likewise."

Turk was walking away when Rikku yelled after him. "I'll see you tomorrow, ya big meanie!" He just thumbed up without turning around. The blonde settled down and sighed.

"What's a 'Chubby Chocobo'?"

Rikku glanced at her, then took a mild interest in the smoke of her cigarette, waiting a beat before she answered. "Me."

Paine looked at the wiry muscle in Rikku's arms, to the swell of her petite breasts and down the rest of her slender form. "I don't get it."

The blonde fidgeted a little under her gaze. "We've known each other since we were kids. It's an old nickname. See, I was chubby kid growing up. 'Baby fat' my mother called it. I didn't thin out until late in my teens. Running and training helped a lot with that."

Paine nodded. "I'm pretty sure was known in school for being a chubby chaser."

Rikku narrowed her eyes at the other woman. "How do I know you're not making that up? You can hardly remember your name."

"Yeah, it's a little frustrating that I can remember that and not even my home planet," Paine said softly, leaning over Rikku to flick the ash of her cigarette into the can. "It could be selective memory. Like I'm blocking out certain things because I don't want to remember."

The blonde studied the taller woman's face. "Why would you want to do that?"

Paine shrugged. "Just a theory. But I really don't know. Honestly, I want to know. I do. But for some reason I feel like… Like it's not important right now. And it'll come back to me in due time. But I can't shake this weird feeling…"

"Weird feeling?"

Paine hesitated a moment. "That I just need to accept it, and that this is where I need to be right now." She shook her head. _What am I even saying?_

"I think I get it." Rikku was looking away again. She put the cigarette out in the can and brought it over to her other side so Paine wouldn't brush over her again like that. Rikku may have accidentally smelled her hair and looked at her neck a moment too long and felt her stomach flip when these things happened. "I've felt like that before. Well, without the memory loss."

Paine looked intently at the blonde. "Rikku."

The blonde looked tentatively back. "Yeah?"

"I-"

There was a loud screech over the PA system, followed by, "Rrrrrriku! To the brrrridge at once! Huf! Drec ec inkahd!"

Rikku bristled and stood up with a huff. "I'm going to kill Brother if this could have waited until tomorrow." She looked down at the silver haired woman. "Do you want to come with? You probably should, just to get meeting my brother out of the way, if anything."

"Uh, yeah sure." Paine took one last drag of her cigarette and threw it in the can, standing up. She was a little thrown off. But she tried not to let it show.

They started down the open space of the hangar side by side. They were both still buzzed. Less so than before, but still Rikku hoped that this really wasn't as urgent as Brother was claiming it to be. She didn't know how the mood had shifted so suddenly back there. She also didn't know how she felt about it. Her and Paine had just met and she was telling her things she spoke to no one but Yunie, and maybe Turk, about.

Paine was also a little confused. But she had come to a decision. She didn't know much about anything right now, but at this point, she wasn't going to complain if Rikku actually did bump into her in the communal showers later on.

X

"Okay Brother," Rikku said stepping through the door, "What is it?"

The Al Bhed man that was Rikku's brother opened his mouth to say something, which he shut promptly, jaw clenching, when he saw who his little sister had in tow. "Rikku! Why do you have this hitcher in here?" His heavy accent dripping with disdain.

"Paine, this is Brother."

"Hey," Paine said. "Thank you for saving my life."

Brother was ready with some hefty remark, but paused, looking at the silverette suspiciously. "You're welcome…"

"Brother, just tell me what the hell is so important." Rikku was bored of her brother's antics. She really was. He overreacted to everything.

"Humph! Well while I was unconscious after my fall earlier-"

Rikku rolled her eyes. "The one that had nothing to do with me kicking your legs out from under you?"

He ignored her."-We got an incoming message from the Pigs at the Palace."

"They have another bounty for us?" Rikku perked up a little.

"Yes… It's on the way, so I took it."

"Okay, tell Shinra to send the details to my Sphere." She turned to leave.

"Rikku! Fryd ypuid drec uha?"

The blonde glanced over at the woman in question."What about her?"

"Cra'c hud cdyoehk uh drec creb vun vnaa."

"Cu fryd tu oui aqbald ran du tu?" Rikku put a hand on her hip. She was starting to get annoyed again. "Sub vmuunc?"

"...Dryd'c hud y pyt etay, pid hu! Cra'c kuehk uh drec puihdo fedr oui. Pid cra't paddan hud aqbald yho byosahd."

"Brother, no-"

"I'll do it." Paine's voice was crisp and clear, cutting through the siblings' argument.

Rikku shook her head, "Paine, you almost just died. You've been drinking. You don't know what you're signing up for. You could be cleaning the floors with a toothbrush-"

"He wants me to help you with a bounty right?"

"-It's not right." The blonde took a couple seconds to process what was happening, but it clicked. "Hold the Sphere, you understood what he was- what _we_ were saying?"

Paine nodded.

Rikku gaped. "You know Al Bhed?"

The silverette shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose."

"Paine, Al Bhed is only spoken on one planet," the blonde said carefully.

Her heart jolted. "Just one?"

"Yeah." Rikku stared at her. "Spira."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Characters may be a little OOC.

* * *

_She's back in school. It's her favorite teacher's class. Miss Syrelle. Paine has a huge crush on her._

_Paine is taking notes, rewriting them after she finishes. Then writing them again after that. Miss Syrelle laughs at her fondly. Paine had been out of class for quite some time._

_Another teacher enters the room. Paine can't recall her name, if she knows it at all. This other teacher questions Miss Syrelle's teaching methods. _

_The other teacher chooses Paine to solve the problem on the board. Paine argues that she can't possibly. She's been absent for too long. Miss Syrelle agrees._

_This other teacher won't have it. Paine argues no further and approaches the board. She takes the chalk and starts writing._

_Paine is walking down a street somewhere with people she knows. She spots a man walking up the street. He's going the wrong way. She yells out to him that he's not going the right way._

_The man tells Paine to go fuck herself. Paine gets angry and runs after him as to beat him up. He runs away. Paine knows she can't catch him so she stops and starts laughing at him._

_A few of his co-workers see and convince him to fight Paine. She knows she's going to win this fight. He's scrawny._

_She's approaching him when she realizes her shoe is untied. She tells him to hold on. She bends down to tie her shoe._

Paine sat up in her bed reaching for her foot so she could tie her laces. She stopped halfway there and looked around. She was in the room aboard the Celsius. The room chosen for her by Rikku.

She fell back on the bed, putting her hands behind her head and stared at the ceiling. Paine noticed out of the corner of her eye that the Sphere Rikku had given her was blinking.

It didn't actually look like a sphere at all. It was a rectangular with curved edges and transparent. Rikku had to explain that the name 'Sphere' was a misnomer, just a nod to the ancient technology that it was derived from.

Paine got up and stretched. The standard white tee she was given riding up over her stomach.

After the scene at the bridge she had asked to have a moment. She'd went back to her room. Rikku had showed up a little while later with the white tee shirt and a pair of baggy sweatpants that she usually used when she was decompressing and wanted to be comfortable. She also gave her a towel, a face cloth, some soap, a toothbrush and other toiletries. Rikku had told her where the showers were and said she would give her clothes a wash as well.

Paine had stopped by Rikku's room after her shower wondering where the laundry was done. To Rikku's credit, she mostly looked Paine in the eyes and not at her breasts, which were freed from the containment that was Paine's sports bra. The dampened state of the white shirt was really working against Rikku. But the little blonde powered through it with only a tinge of pink on her cheeks. Which could have been attributed to anything (is what Rikku told herself after Paine had left).

Now, Paine walked over to the desk where she left the Sphere. The lack of an endtable was a little inconvenient but she chalked the simplicity up to lack of funds. Or space. She picked up the Sphere and tapped it on. The flight schedule and where they'd be docking next projected itself from the device into the space in front of Paine. _What the hell?_

Paine had never seen technology like this. Not that she could remember. Which wasn't surprising to her, but she felt like it should at least be familiar. Like most things were. The items in her possession were familiar. She knew what alcohol was, what it's effects were. Even her fighter ship was familiar. Smoking came second nature to her. Which she didn't think was necessarily a good thing but she'd known what to do without thinking.

She took some time to figure out how to use the Sphere and discovered that she could open multiple windows at once. Also that she could choose to not have anything projected in her face at all, and she could just read it off the small rectangle of a screen. She found this was not the best way to read the schedule, as there was a lot of scrolling to see the whole thing.

What she found by reading the schedule was that the next planet they were headed for was not too far off. It was a planet by the name of 'New Earth'.

She shut the windows and put the Sphere down. It was still blinking. It hadn't been doing that went it was given to her. _Whatever. _Paine was hungry. She'd slept for a good six hours and she felt pretty refreshed considering she was drinking the night before. Still groggy, but nothing caffeine couldn't fix.

Paine ambled out of her room and found her way down the corridors until she got the bar area. There were a few of the crew out here already. Some just ending their shifts and others grabbing a meal or relaxing during their free time.

An angry voice boomed through the bar and rec area. "What the hell did I do this time?! Please, explain to me why you've been so put off by my presence. How the hell am I supposed to know what I did wrong if you don't ever just come out and say it!"

"You just don't get it do you, Nat? You're fucking incorrigible! I swear I've never met anyone with their head so far up their own ass!" A high pitched voice yelled back.

Paine sat down at the bar. A seat down from the two who were yelling back and forth at each other. She recognized them from the bay area as the two who were arguing when she went down there with Rikku to check out her ship.

The taller, more masculine looking one, Nat apparently, had a very handsome face. Sharp features and high cheekbones. Nat had shaggy dark brown hair and had to keep running a hand through it to get it out of the way. She couldn't see the other's face but Paine could tell she was short, even if she was sitting on a stool. She had short hair that stopped about mid neck, raven black in color with blue showing a little underneath.

"What can I get yoo, mish?" A large blue being appeared in front of Paine with bulging eyes on either side of it's head. _Hypello,_ Paine thought.

"Whatever Rikku gets is fine. And something that will wake me up." She replied to the barkeep.

"Yesh, it will be just a minute." The Hypello left.

Meanwhile, Nat had stormed out and left the raven haired girl at the bar, a seat down from Paine.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell am I going to do with her?" The girl muttered to herself.

Paine glanced over.

"What the fuck are you looking at, you filthy hitcher?" The girl spat.

Paine just raised a brow. "You know, you might actually get somewhere if you told her what was going on."

The other girl looked like she was about to blow gasket. "Who the hell made it any your fucking business?"

"When you two decided to raise your voices well over the appropriate volume, you made it the problem of everyone in this room. I don't think anyone appreciates having a nice, calming atmosphere ruined because of some petty argument caused by lack of communication."

"Well they can just fucking deal with it or leave for all I care!"

"Funny because when you give people that choice, and only that choice, they decide to leave. I mean, that's what your friend did right?"

The Hypello came out at the moment and set Paine's breakfast in front of her. It looked like a muffin, with blue splotches that she hoped were blueberries, and a mug of black coffee.

"Thanks." She nodded to the Hypello.

"Anytime, mish." The Hypello answered and wandered away into the kitchen.

The girl with the raven hair and, Paine noticed, silver eyes, got so red it looked like her head was going to explode. "You don't fucking know anything. Stay out of my God damn business." She stomped out.

Paine let out a small puff of air and ate her breakfast in peace. After she was done she went back to her room, changed into her clothes and went to go wash up. When that was all done, she didn't know what to do with herself. What did she normally do? What kind of routine did she have? She worked out. She knew that much. No one would have the body she had if they didn't work out. Paine had also vaguely remembered being a Captain. Being in shape was required in the military. Even reserves.

For now, Paine decided to go check out her ship in the hangar, maybe see if it had been rebooted yet. It was a stretch, but she didn't have anything else to do. When she got down there, she was pleasantly surprised to see Rikku under her fighter with a panel removed and wires spilling out.

Paine bent down and ducked her head underneath the ship. "Hey, any luck?"

Rikku looked away from what she was doing and gave Paine an enigmatic face.

"What?" Paine tried to peer into the guts of wires to see why Rikku was looking at her like that.

"Paine, this model is fifty years old."

The silverette glanced at her and then focused her attention back to the wires inside the panel. "It is?"

"Yeah, but that's not the only thing. It has all of its original parts, apart from a few upgrades, but no one's used those for about forty years." She hesitated a moment. "And it all looks brand spanking new, aside from light use."

"So?"

"So, unless you're some sort of collector that's obsessed with old fighters and has a ton of money to find and put these parts together, I really don't know what to think. I mean, ya know besides traveling fifty years into the future."

Paine laughed. "Well lets see if we can get this thing running and figure out what's on the computer inside."

"Well, I'm actually almost done. I just need to reset the computer and then we can go into the cockpit and switch it on from there."

"Okay how long should that take?"

Rikku had her hands dunked in the sea of wires, sticking her tongue out in concentration. "Uhh… Just a second."

Paine waited for about three minutes, looking around nonchalantly. She felt like she should be more excited to get the ship online, was it that she was patient?

After musing a couple minutes more she decided to rest her eyes on the most interesting being in the area. Rikku was wearing the same outfit as the day before but with a purple bandanna on today and she was wearing one of those standard white tee shirts instead of a beater. The top of her coveralls were, again, tied around her waist, brown steel toed boots on her feet.

Paine had only had a couple minutes to take Rikku's appearance in yesterday when she'd asked where the laundry was done. Her yellow short shorts and tight black tank top was a serious distraction. She had forgotten for a second why she knocked on Rikku's door and had almost determined that any other reason than to push her back into the room and have her way with the blonde was definitely not why she'd walked over.

"All set! Hop on in!" Rikku broke Paine from her thoughts. The blonde was standing in front of her and gave the taller woman a gentle push on the shoulder. "Come on, no day dreaming unless it's about me."

Paine stayed where she was, a small smirk evident.

Rikku rolled her eyes but her stomach flipped. "Get in and flip it on already."

Paine chuckled and climbed the ladder, sitting in the seat. She hit the switch to power up the fighter and saw the screens light up. Rikku was standing on the ladder just outside of the ship leaning on it with her elbows. She was watching intently as the screen blipped and asked for a command. "Registration," Paine said to the computer.

A picture of her face came up. She had a uniform on with the insignia for Captain emblazoned on the upper arm of either side of the jacket and a number of ribbons and medals. 'Captain Paine Rydell' was printed clearly on the top of the screen. Next to her picture was Paine's birth date, height, weight, hair color and eye color. Apparently, she was a donor as well.

Underneath all of that, there was the registration number, serial number of the fighter craft, when it was due for renewal, and other such things.

"At least I was right about being a Captain." Paine let out a relieved laugh.

Rikku was halfway in the cockpit, trying to read everything on the screen. "Paine…"

"What's up?"

"There's something off here."

"Why not? Looks alright to me."

"Looks alright- looks alright to you?! Paine, that'd make you seventy four. Look at your birth date!"

The silverette frowned. "Maybe the computer-"

"No, everything else on here is right. Well, I don't know about your weight though, that's definitely not right," Rikku joked halfheartedly, then sobered. "But the serial number matches the ship. Why wouldn't that have changed?" Rikku studied Paine's face.

The taller woman leaned back into the seat, staring at the screen. Rikku put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You've probably got eternal youth or something. Wouldn't that be nuts? Would that make you immortal too?"

"In theory, you can have immortality without eternal youth. I don't know about the other way around." Paine was a little detached. Rikku noticed.

"Do you think- well that time travel is actually a possibility? I mean, it makes sense… The age indicated by the Med Bed was twenty four. The fifty year old whiskey that isn't made anymore, and seriously come on, Biggs and Wedge cigarettes that have only twenty sticks a pack? They're giving out thirty two a pack these days." Rikku gave the silverette's shoulder a little squeeze. "We'll have to do some research on it, but it's not unheard of to travel through time. Just rare."

"I can do that..." Paine sighed. "How can I do that?"

Rikku smiled. "I'll help you, it's easy. Anyone can find anything on a Sphere Network."

Paine looked into emerald eyes. "Thank you."

Rikku winked. "No time like the present! We're going to my room. We'll see what we can get with just the Celsius' network. We should be docking at New Earth any day now. They'll have a more expansive network."

The blonde slid down the ladder and waited for Paine. The silverette felt much better. She thought she didn't care. Was not trying the dish better than only having a taste?

X

They had tried the Celsius' Sphere Network. A lot of it was 'how to' and 'what to do when', sort of thing with the occasional odd entry ("Can marijuana be used as a laxative?"). But bless Shinra, Rikku would give him a smooch later. Shinra was the Supreme Super Nerd Overlord and had entered every past and present interest he had done research on. That included different methods of time travel, including wormholes, and even the effect it had on the individual(s) attempting such an endeavor.

Rikku and Paine were now on the former's bed, scrolling through the plethora of information provided.

"Hey, Painey-"

"Don't call me that." 'P' was one thing.

"-Look here. This one says it can cause memory loss." Rikku swiped the information over the Paine. They read through silently.

"It says there are a whole bunch of variables to take into account. It can be temporary or permanent, short term or long term can be affected. Also, inability to recount what happened the day before even months after a successful leap… I wouldn't call that successful."

Rikku shuddered. "Yeah, that last one would suck. Not remembering what you did the day before, _every day_?"

"It would." Paine put her Sphere down and looked at Rikku who was on her belly, letting her legs sway back and forth in the air. She was in those short shorts again, gray this time, and a blue tank. She'd taken off her bandanna. Paine sat with her back against the wall toward the bottom of the bed. She admired Rikku's form, took a dip in the ogle pool, got out and kept admiring. She was trying to be at least a little respectful.

Rikku shifted. Paine looked away. The blonde looked over her shoulder and turned on her side to get a better look at Paine. "I would be really lonely if I were you."

"How can you be lonely when you don't know what you're missing? Plus, you haven't really given me a chance to be lonely yet." Paine gave her an appreciative smile.

"What can I say? Can't let the distressed damsel get lonely." The blonde grinned back.

"Ah, yes. Well you know you're not the only one I've talked to. I can have a conversation with people when I want to."

Rikku was genuinely curious. "Like who?"

"Well, there was that Hypello this morning-"

"You mean Barkeep? He's cool."

"Yeah, well it was a very short exchange of words but it was pleasant enough."

"Oh, so you ordered breakfast." The blonde gave her a knowing look.

"It was still talking. Anyway, there was this other chick, don't know her name. She had black hair, there was some blue in there I think-"

"Whoa, whoa, hold up. You had a conversation with Yuri?" Rikku raised her eyebrows. She did not believe this at all.

"She basically told me to fuck off. I mean, granted, I was a little rude myself, but I felt it was necessary after the argument she was having with her friend and especially after she almost snapped my head off when I glanced in her direction."

Rikku nodded. "Yup that was Yuri alright. The friend you're talking about was probably Nat. They fight constantly. I've talked to Nat about it before, she's actually really nice. I don't know what she sees in Yuri."

"They're a couple?"

The Al Bhed sighed. "No. That's the thing. They just need to screw each other and get the sexual tension out of the way but it just seems to explode in all the wrong ways. Yuri really just has a hard time trying to get her feelings across. And Nat can be oblivious."

"Mm," Paine shut her eyes a moment. "Sounds complicated."

"Yeah, it kind of is." The alert on Rikku's Sphere rang out. She opened it up. "Hey, looks like we'll be landing on New Earth in a couple hours. That new warp-drive really is something…" She muttered that last part to herself.

"What are we going to do there?"

"Restocking mostly. But you and I are going on a personal outing. You need new clothes. Scratch that, you need _clothes. _We can probably stop by a weapon shop as well, I want to see if they have anything new, maybe some cool upgrades." She put her hands together in prayer. "Oh Yevon, please let it be a summer season hemisphere."

"Rikku…" Paine paused. "I don't have any gil."

Rikku smiled, "Don't worry about that. You can pay me back."

"I'm not getting a cut if we do this bounty together, so I don't know how I'm going to do that."

"Is that because of what Brother said? Don't worry about it, I'll make sure he just gets what he needs to pay for your room and board. We can work out a payment schedule so you're not broke all the time."

"What would I do if you weren't so kind to me?" Paine asked.

Rikku shrugged, a smile playing on her lips and flipped back over onto her stomach and started messing around with her Sphere.

X

The first day on New Earth had all of the crew loading supplies onto the Celsius. Paine helped. Brother made sure of that. Paine didn't put up a fight. She was glad to be of use. Rikku's plans to go shopping didn't happen until two days after that. With all the supplies and inventory that had to be taken, they didn't have the time. Brother was antsy and wanted to get back in the deep expanse of space and to their destination, but the crew was in dire need of some vacation time. Brother wasn't so blind and selfish that he wouldn't let the crew have some time on solid ground. They did have Shinra's new warp drive after all. They could be at the Pig's Palace in half the original estimated time. Not counting the stop to Aerigus for that extra bounty.

To Rikku's utter delight, the hemisphere where they docked was spring going into summer. She must have stood outside on the docking platform for a small eternity enjoying the breeze and the smell of the air. Paine also found it quite refreshing.

They did coffee first. Freshly brewed with real milk and everything. Then was the seemingly endless rows of shops. Paine was a little perturbed at first, with the all the people crowding the streets and shops. Rikku took notice and tried her best to distract Paine and get her more involved with picking out clothes that she liked. Or at least giving an opinion on what Rikku had picked out for her. After the fourth or fifth, 'that's fine', Rikku decided to change tactics. They finished up with the clothing and the blonde grabbed her by the hand, successfully grabbing her attention along with it and lead her to a more remote area. This was where the weapons shops were.

They visited a few and Paine was browsing eagerly, until she found something she really liked. It was a sword with a few nice upgrades, including the ability to retract into itself to make it easier to carry around. Simple and effective is what she was going for. She didn't want anything too fancy, especially using a technology she wasn't familiar with. Memory or no.

Rikku had also chosen something for herself. Twin knives with rings on the hilt that came with a special sort of wire that could allow her to throw them and manipulate the blades while still in the air. When they left, Rikku proceeded to go on about her knives and why she chose them; at times making chopping motions with her hands with the occasional 'chyah!' and 'shink!', cackling when she'd disposed of the imaginary baddies.

Paine had also bought a brown leather sheath which she harnessed to her back. Straps resting the weight on her shoulders, sternum, and midsection. It was comfortable enough.

They were making their way back to the ship with their bags. Rikku skipping happily along, chattering about something, when they spotted Yuri looking dejected in front of a quaint shop just meters ahead. She was muttering something and had her arms crossed, holding her elbows.

Rikku stopped mid stride. Paine did as well and looked at Rikku. "What's wrong?"

"It's Yuri."

Paine glanced over to the short, raven haired girl. "So it seems."'

"She looks depressed. Probably about Nat." Rikku bit the inside of her mouth, debating something. "I really try to avoid her whenever possible, but I've never seen her look like that before." The internal debate over, she gave a single nod to herself and started down the road toward Yuri.

Paine wasn't excited about the idea of engaging in any sort of activity with Yuri, especially if the activity involved listening to the woman speak. She followed anyway.

"Hey Yuri." The Al Bhed greeted pleasantly. "What's wrong?"

Yuri's head snapped up at the blonde, her distant gaze vanishing in an instant. "The fuck do you want?"

"Just was wondering if you needed some help or something. You wanna go in that shop?"

"If I wanted to go in, I would've gone in." She said icily. Her eyes shifted to where Paine stood. "Look, the dirty hitcher made a friend. Of course it's with an equally filthy slut. If you wanted an easy lay I would've told you where to find her."

Paine took a step forward. Rikku held out her arm to stop her. Yuri saw this. "Oh, look she's even got you on a little leash too. How fucking adorable."

Paine's heart was pounding so hard she could hear it reverberating in her ears, but she stayed where she was, fists clenched, jaw tight.

"This is about Nat, isn't it?" Rikku asked. "I could help if you want. You want to get her something?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. You'd know exactly how to get into Nat's pants, wouldn't you? I don't need help from a harlot like you, thank you very much."

Paine was seriously angry. She knew she couldn't let this little twerp get to her though. She took a few deep breaths and calmed down as much as she could. Her fists unclenched and she loosened her jaw an iota but it wasn't enough. A sudden urge overwhelmed her and she placed the bags she was holding on the ground. She dug into the inside pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it with a match.

Rikku in the meantime, trudged on. It was really amazing, she didn't seem at all affected by Yuri's distasteful demeanor. "If you don't want my help, I could get someone else to help you if you'd like."

"Are you for real? I don't want _any_ help," Yuri snarled.

"Lot of good that's done," Paine quipped from behind her cigarette. Yuri glared at her.

"Okay, um, good luck then." Rikku gave the hostile woman a small smile and gathered the bags Pane put on the ground.

Paine flicked her cigarette and blew the remaining smoke out of her lungs. "I'll give you another piece of advice shorty. You want someone to know you like them? This works just fine." Paine grabbed Rikku by the waist and pulled her in roughly. The silverette's other hand cupped Rikku's cheek as she leaned in and kissed her.

The blonde didn't have time to react. She just stood there, eyes wide, shopping bags hanging on her arms. It was over before she could form a thought and get a grip on what was happening.

"Come on." Paine took the bags from Rikku and turned about-face, walking in the direction of the Celsius.

"O-okay." Rikku followed after her, leaving a ticked off Yuri behind.

They walked in silence through the town and the docks, up the lift, and to Paine's room.

"Thanks for today."

Rikku stood there awkwardly, tapping the toe of her boot on the ground. "Uh, sure no problem."

"Do you want to come in or something?" Paine asked staring at the door to her room.

"I would, but, um, Shinra asked me to come see him after we were done."

Paine nodded. "Alright. I'll see you." She pressed the button to open the door and went through. When it closed, Rikku left.

X

The following morning, Paine stumbled out of her room and to the showers. It was empty. She brushed her teeth and tongue then stripped and shoved her things in one of the red lockers. She took the second to last shower head. It had the best pressure. Rikku had bought some kind of ocean breeze shampoo for her. She didn't really care, as long as it got the job done and didn't have a totally overwhelming scent. She was rinsing out the suds when she heard someone come in. She glanced over her shoulder to see who it was.

Nat was tall. Taller than Paine at least. She was thin and had subtle curves. There was a distinctly androgynous look about her. She turned on the shower a few feet down and hung a basket on the head, taking out the soap and a loofah.

"You're Paine, right?"

Paine didn't look over. "Yeah."

"I'm Nat."

"I know."

"Then you know Yuri's a good friend of mine."

"That so?"

"Yes, that's so. Apparently, you don't know how to treat a lady." Nat's tone was getting harsh.

Paine was getting annoyed, but she didn't push it; just finished up and grabbed her towel. She could feel Nat staring at her.

"Listen, I don't feel like having a tiff in the women's showers. If you want to find me I'll be in the rec area."

Paine went over to the lockers and changed into her clothes. She pulled on a pair of black tactical pants and a sand colored Henley. She slipped into a pair of socks and her boots, tying the laces tightly, then went by the laundry to drop off her clothes. She stopped by her room as well and left her toiletries on the desk.

She got to the rec room and took a seat at the bar like she did every morning. Barkeep was just bringing out her coffee when she saw someone take the seat to her left at the bar. Paine didn't have to look to know who it was. The silverette sipped her coffee then turned to face Nat.

Nat had blue eyes apparently. They were dark and were occasionally mistaken for brown. In the right light though, the were truly blue. And this was the right light.

Paine just went straight to the point. "So what's the issue here?"

"You were disrespectful and rude to Yuri." Nat was grimacing.

"I thought I was pretty civil considering."

"Really? Than why did I hear Yuri talking about how you told her off one of your first days here? Then you harassed her in town."

Paine closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I really don't have to deal with this. In fact, I won't. _Yuri_ is rude and disrespectful. I'm not saying I wasn't but I felt it was warranted."

Paine really liked sitting and enjoying her coffee, but she gulped it down in lieu of that and got up to leave. She'd rather scorch her mouth than deal with this - whatever this was- not even an hour after she'd just gotten up.

When she felt a tap on her shoulder, she turned and saw a fist flying toward her face. She ducked, stepped forward and turned her back into the assailant, grabbing the right arm that was thrown at her face by the elbow with her left hand, hooking her other arm under to grab their shoulder and tossed them over her hip and onto the floor.

Nat had the wind knocked out of her but she got up and tackled Paine, who went with the momentum and rolled the both of them so that she was on top and sitting on the other woman's stomach. Nat bucked but Paine wouldn't budge. Lucky for Nat, she had long arms. So after the third failed attempt at trying to get Paine off of her, she punched Paine right in the eye. Paine retaliated with a few punches of her own. Nat threw them right back. After a hook to Paine's jaw, Paine took the opportunity to lean in and trap the arm under Nat's chin, digging her head into the side of Nat's and putting pressure on the trapped arm with her shoulder. Paine brought her free arm around Nat's head and grabbed her other hand and locked them together, choking Nat with her own bicep and Paine's arm. Paine squeezed. Nat was trying everything to get Paine off, she bucked and punched with her free arm. But to no avail. Her face was getting redder by the second, and she was wasting air flailing around without a plan.

"Hey!" It was a deep voice. Sort of sounded like-

"Turk! Do shomeshing!" That, she could tell was Barkeep.

"Alright girls," Turk reached down to grab Paine. She let go and rolled out of the way and onto her feet.

Nat sat up coughing and holding her throat. Turk gave her a hand up. "Someone wanna tell me what's going on?"

"We had a misunderstanding." Paine answered bringing a hand up to her left eye. When she brought it away there was blood.

Nat was glaring at Paine. "She was disrespectful to Yuri."

Turk sighed. "Right, that may be true... but Yuri had it coming. No offence Nat, but from what I heard Paine wasn't being malicious."

"Heard from where?" Nat was glaring at Turk now.

"A couple people who were in here when you two decided to have that chat a few days ago. You know Nat, when you yell like that, everyone stares. When Yuri decided to try and pick on this one over here," he gestured to Paine, "she just gave her a few choice words, that's what I heard."

"Well what about when her and Rikku were harassing her in town?"

Turk shrugged. Nat looked to Paine.

Paine rolled her eyes. "Rikku was trying to help her. She just wanted to know why Yuri was depressed."

Nat seemed like she was at odds with herself. She didn't want to believe it. But Rikku harassing other people didn't seem right in the first place. She'd just thought it was this newcomer and that Yuri had just lumped Rikku in with her. "Rikku may have been trying to be nice. Can you say the same?"

"No," Paine said impassively. "Especially after Yuri called Rikku a whore a couple different ways."

"What? No, she…" She would. Yuri would do that. "Damn it."

Turk put a hand on Nat's shoulder. "She's been upset lately. More than usual."

"Listen, Nat," Paine was going to set this straight. "She wants you."

"W-what? How would you know that?"

"Everyone knows you two like each other except you two," Turk said.

"All I did when we were in town, was show her a surefire way to get her feelings across to you. She's obviously not good at telling people straight out. So I showed her." Paine crossed her arms.

"What did you show her?" Nat asked uncertainly.

"I kissed Rikku."

Turk burst out laughing. "Is that what Blondie's been daydreaming about? She was bumping into everything after you two got back! Almost electrocuted the two of us fixing up one of the fighters! Bahahaha!"

Paine raised an eyebrow and tried her best to look bored. Rikku was distracted all day because of her?

Turk wiped a tear from his eye. "Oh, Yevon, that's something. You know, she wasn't even like that when her and Nat-" Turk stopped abruptly. "Uh, when her and Nat… hung out… that one time…" He finished lamely.

Nat blanched. "Jesus, Turk!"

Paine felt a headache coming on. And her eye hurt. "I'm going to medical."

Paine left the other two and went in the direction of the lift. She passed a mop of blonde hair groggily making it's way toward the rec area on her way, but she didn't stop. By the time she got to the lift her head was pounding. She heard a distant and sleep coated voice saying, "Paine…?" The lift closed.


	3. Chapter 3

Paine didn't know how, but she'd made it to medical. She was laying in one of those awful Med Beds. She sat up slowly. "Ugh."

There was a woman Paine didn't recognize standing across the room with her back to her. She turned when she heard Paine and walked over, smiling brightly. Paine thought she might go blind if she looked too long.

"Nasty shiner you had there, a concussion as well but nothing too bad." The redhead held out her hand. "I'm Oerba Dia Vanille. Just Vanille is fine though."

"Nice to meet you." Paine took her hand and gave it a firm shake.

"You would have met me earlier when we first picked you up, but you were out for quite sometime. We had Rikku on shift to watch you when you woke up."

"Right. Thanks for the fix up then Doctor." Paine got up to leave.

"Hope I don't see you in here anytime soon."

"Me neither." She gave a salute and left.

Paine heard her Sphere beep after she'd left medical. She pulled it out and checked the messages. There were a few. Updates on when the ship would take off, one from Rikku asking if she was okay and one from Shinra telling her to meet him at the bridge.

She took the lift down and went down the hallway and into the control room of the bridge. Shinra was already waiting there.

"You're Shinra, right?" He was about a foot shorter than her and had this special suit covering his entire body with goggles masking his eyes. She wasn't sure if he was a kid or not until he spoke.

"Yes. Now I have a few things to discuss with you. We'll make this short. One, if the bounty is a criminal, leave them alive unless otherwise noted. Two, well, two was going to be you training with Rikku or Turk to see if any of your training came back to you. From the fight you had this morning, I can see you do. Nat isn't the best but she can hold her own."

"She was angry. She got sloppy."

"Which is one of the reasons why she isn't the best. There are a few things she still needs to work on. She's young."

Paine tried her best to see through Shinra's goggles. "Yeah, you'd know a thing or two about being young wouldn't you."

"There's an old saying that goes something like, 'don't judge the inside by the outside'."

"Don't judge a book by it's cover."

"What?"

"That's the saying you're talking about."

Shinra shrugged. "I'm just a kid."

"..."

"Well, that's all really. If you want to spar, go to Rikku or Turk. There are a few others aboard this ship that can fight as well. If you can figure out who they are feel free to invite them to spar with you. You can go now. If you need me, message me on the Sphere." He went back to his seat in front of a couple huge monitors.

Paine exited and went back to her room. She sat on her bed and messaged Rikku saying she was fine and that she was in her room. There was a knock on the door a few minutes later.

"Come in."

Rikku came in. She had her coveralls zipped up all the way with splotches of oil on it. Yellow bandana today. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just a little bang on the head."

"I heard. Mind if I…?" She motioned to the desk chair.

"Go ahead."

Rikku sat down. "So…"

Paine raised her brows.

"Um, so you're okay."

Paine nodded.

Rikku stared down at her hands and started picking at her oil coated fingers.

Paine was starting to feel a little awkward. "Do you want to spar with me later?"

Rikku's head shot up. "Yeah!" She cleared her throat. "I mean, um, what time?"

"Whenever you're done with what you're doing."

"Okay, great. Why don't we spar somewhere outside of town? I'm sure there's a glade or something where we could go."

"Sounds good."

Rikku got up and went toward the door. "See ya soon."

"Wait."

Rikku turned around to see Paine was standing. The silverette took two steps and closed the distance between them. Rikku swallowed, feeling her heart rate pick up.

"You've got a little something," Paine motioned, "on your cheek."

"O-oh, right," Rikku laughed nervously, and scrubbed at her face with her sleeve. "That's bound to happen sometimes, ya know? Working with machines all the…"

Paine had gently taken Rikku's arm and moved it away from her face. She licked her thumb and wiped Rikku's cheek. She did this a few times. Rikku's little heart was working overtime. The blonde stared at Paine's eyes which were looking at her cheek. Rikku was struggling to keep her breathing regulated.

"T-thanks I think it's gone now. Thanks." Rikku took a step back, her back hitting the door. She felt around for the button to open it. "I'll just, um, see ya later then." She pressed it and escaped down the hallway.

Paine sighed after the door closed and took a seat on the bed again. She lay her upper body down on it, her feet planted on the floor and closed her eyes.

Later that day, Rikku and Paine met at the bridge to spar. They bought a map in town and went northeast through a brush and into a clearing. They started with hand to hand and after an hour, with short rests in between, Paine was still ready to go. So Rikku let Paine get familiar with her weapon and they did a bit of light sparring.

Paine was good. Rikku had to actually try if she wanted to lay a hand on her. Paine wasn't as fast as the blonde she was sparring with, but timed her moves accordingly. That's not to say she didn't get hit, because she did. A lot. But most of the hits Paine took were blocked. She stunned Rikku occasionally with impeccable timing, blasting the blonde with consecutive strikes, jumping back once the blonde got her bearings.

Overall it was an enjoyable time for both. For Rikku it was refreshing to spar with someone other than the Celsius crew. For Paine, well, everything about combat training was coming back to her as Rikku pushed her. Every now and again she'd get flashes of the past. At first she'd get lost in the memory and was rewarded with a straight jab or cross to the face. She quickly learned to keep moving even when pictures of the past flew in succession behind her eyes.

After another hour both were spent. They lay in the field panting heavily, sweat coursing down their backs and faces. After they gathered themselves and were making their way through the glade, a figure made itself known. It was a man. A couple inches taller than Paine with short brown hair and blue eyes with a scar running across his face from above his right eye, across his nose and underneath his left eye.

"You're slow." He said to Paine.

She hadn't seen him until the moment he spoke. She kept walking, Rikku glancing over to the man a few times as they passed.

"A lot of your moments are unnecessary. You draw back when you strike. A tell tale sign of what you're going to do next."

Paine turned toward the man now. "So you must be some kind of master then, huh?"

The man shrugged. "Just an observation. If you don't believe me, I'll spar with you and show you just how many holes you have."

"Fine." Paine walked back into the glade. She took her stance.

The man followed with Rikku watching at the sidelines, ready to interrupt if anything went awry. The man took a southpaw stance. It wasn't unknown, but definitely not what Paine was used to. She lunged.

Paine used every trick that felt natural. Even ones she didn't use against Rikku, but she could not land a single one on the stranger. He knew where she was going to move and when. He was dodging every move effortlessly, tapping her on the places where she left herself open. When Paine had finally had enough she stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees.

"How the hell do you do that?" She asked.

"You give yourself away. If you want to throw a punch or kick or whatever, just move from where you are. Don't draw back for more power. You're too worried about your opponent. Just relax, let it flow a bit more. Your guard is pretty tight, but you compromise it to get a hit in. Let them come to you."

Paine nodded. The man nodded back and made his way out of the glade.

"He must have supervision or something because I didn't see you winding back to strike at all… Maybe that's just me, or he's some kind of crazy martial arts buff." Rikku said as she walked up to Paine.

Paine said nothing until they entered the town. Her and Rikku then recounted the events of their sparring session, what their strengths and weaknesses were.

"How's Turk with sparring?" Paine asked as they entered the lift of the Celsius.

"He's kind of slow, but he's like a little chess player and doesn't strike until he's set you up nice and good and then, POW! He'll knock you on your ass and take advantage." Rikku answered. "It can be _really_ frustrating until you get used to it and learn his set ups."

"So you still know about chess these days?" Paine teased.

"Well yeah! Chess is timeless! Not that I have to tell _you_ that, _grandma._" Rikku stuck her tongue out at Paine. "Really though, I don't have the patience for it most of the time, but I've played it with Pops sometimes. He insisted on Brother and I learning."

"What about that guy who showed up? What do you think of him?" Paine was still curious about the stranger. She never thought to ask his name, but she felt like even if she did, he wouldn't have told.

"Hm… I don't know what his angle is, but I get the feeling he knows what he's talking about. Even I couldn't dodge all your moves."

It was getting late by the time they got back, so the two of them went their separate ways. Paine to her room, Rikku to hers.

The next few days passed by in a flash. The Celsius took off into space and toward their destination of Aerigus. Shinra briefed Rikku and Paine on the bounty. It seemed pretty easy. The criminal was a native of the planet where he was last sighted.

The Aerian's were humanoid with tails and rough skin a lot like lizards that came in colors spanning from brown to bright blue. The bounty they were on was a hunt for an Aerian named Cranis. Dark orange in color and hung out in a particularly seedy red light district in a town smack in the middle of the southwestern hemisphere.

With Shinra's details, it didn't take much to corner him. Like the typical convict on the run from the authority, he ran. Rikku and Paine cornered him in the kitchen of a small take out restaurant. Cranis proceeded to take a poor adolescent Aerian hostage and pulled a gun to his head.

They were only bounty hunters. They were known to not give a second thought about the bystanders that got caught in the crossfire. But they did. The Aerian teenager could tell. What Paine and Rikku didn't know, was that the particular kid that Cranis had decided to use as a hostage, had a mother. A mother who was being pimped out by this poor excuse for a being due to debts his grandfather had passed onto her. This young teenage Aerian was working double shifts so that his mother didn't have to go out and work the streets in the winter; when it was freezing cold and she had nothing but a skimpy number on to cover the only bits of flesh that mattered to Cranis' customers. He did the only thing he thought would make a difference. He pushed the hand holding the gun upward and ducked down at the same time.

The gun in Cranis' hand went off. Then Rikku's did. Paine launched herself at Cranis and slammed the heel of her hand into his jaw, followed by a left hook to his temple. Cranis went out cold. Paine noticed that Cranis' gun had a clean bullethole through it.

Rikku had the Aerian kid in her arms. He was hyperventilating with tears in his eyes. She was shushing him and telling him that he was a brave soul and that he did what no one else would have dared. He nodded at this and cried. Rikku held him still, rocking him and shushing him.

Paine walked over after she'd cuffed Cranis' hands behind his back and put a muzzle on him. Shinra and Rikku had told her that the some Aerians had a knack for biting. Paine was more worried about the tail smacking her in the head. She asked for the boy's name. He managed a stuttered 'Rouke'. She told him he was a hero, and that a lot of suffering would be quelled due to his selflessness. He nodded again and thanked them.

When they left with Cranis, Rouke waved.

They secured Cranis in the brig. Somewhere Paine had never been. When they took the lift up the the bridge, Rikku pressed a button on the panel and a door opened behind them. The brig wasn't too big. There were a few cells, each with a one way mirror on the door. All of them were empty except for the first cell, which held a grumpy looking humanoid woman. She was older, her hair was graying. She looked like the motherly (or grandmotherly?) type.

"What's her deal?" Paine asked after they passed her and Rikku was opening the door to Cranis' cell.

The blonde motioned for Paine to put him in. She did so. "That's Regilia. Explosives expert. Terrorist. She was a hard lady to find. Even Shinra took more time than usual to track her down. Had a whole bunch of goons call her mother or something. It was weird. She looks nice enough but she's a nut."

Paine nodded as they exited the brig and opened the adjacent door.

"She's been in here for a while. We were going to bring her to Pig's Palace right away but some stuff came up. More bounties. Like, some Yeti lookin' thing was causing the people of Hoarfrost some trouble. Turns out he just had a toothache. It was a bitch trying to pull out, but he was a nice guy actually."

"Bounties aren't always criminals."

"Right. Sometimes they're just monsters causing more trouble than they should and the Pigs don't wanna deal with it." Rikku popped her head in the control room of the bridge. "Hey, Shinra! All done!"

Shinra kept his eyes on the screen in front of him. "Send me a report on the Sphere."

"Right-o!" Rikku turned to Paine. "Wanna chill in the rec room?"

Paine nodded and followed Rikku to the lift once more. "Who are these 'Pig's Palace' people?"

"Their official name is the 'Federal Ubiquitous Policing Authority'. They're a bunch of effing swine. They have a hand in almost everything these days. We don't really like getting jobs from them, but they pay the best. There are other organizations that have bounties available and we take those jobs too, but they're mostly claimed by the time we're gearing up to go. The Pigs usually have the more difficult bounties. Which, most of the time, aren't that bad."

They got to the rec room and sat down at the bar. Barkeep showed up. "What would yoo like mishes?"

"I'll have a screwdriver and she'll have…" Rikku looked at Paine.

"Just tonic is fine."

Rikku rolled her eyes. "Put some gin or vodka in there as well, please Barkeep."

Barkeep nodded and reached under the bar for a tumbler and a highball glass.

"I don't need alcohol."

The blonde turned in her seat toward Paine. "Okay, first of all, you just finished your first hunt without casualties. That's cause to celebrate. Second, who the heck drinks just tonic?"

"I like the taste."

"Mkay, Painey."

"Rikku."

"Yes?"

"Don't call me that."

Rikku grinned. "Don't like that name much do ya?"

"How long did it take you to catch onto that one?" Paine took her drink from Barkeep when he had finished mixing. He also set down the screwdriver in front of the blonde.

"I thought you might be resistant to it. But it'll grow on ya." She winked.

"No, it's not. It's not going to grow on me, because you're not going to call me that."

"Aw, come on Painey. You're a little fun sucker aren't you? Careful, your true colors are starting to shine through there." The blonde sipped her drink, peering at Paine mischievously.

"Rikku," Paine deadpanned.

"Yes, Painey?"

Paine leaned over so she was a hair's breadth away from Rikku's ear. "Please," she whispered sensually. "Don't call me that."

Rikku felt a wave of desire roll through her lower abdomen. She quelled it immediately and narrowed her eyes at the silverette. "Is that how you get everyone to do what you want?"

Paine smirked. "Why, did it work?"

Rikku humphed. "Only 'cause you said please."

The taller woman hummed. "I'll keep that in mind." She took a sip of her drink. "Oh and about the Federal Ubiqui-"

"I said quit fucking following me!" That was not a voice Paine wanted to hear right now. Or ever.

"Yuri, I just want you to talk to me. Why are you acting like this?"

Yuri stopped in her tracks when she saw Paine and Rikku at the bar. "Oh well isn't this just the fucking cherry on top of a delightful fucking cake?" She turned to leave but Nat stood in her way. "Nat, move."

"Not until you talk to me."

"Why? What is there to talk about? Nothing. Now, please Nat, just move."

The tall, shaggy haired brunette crossed her arms. "Nothing to talk about? How about why you keep avoiding me? And when I do get to talk to you, you're short with me."

"She can't help if she's short," Paine whispered under her breath.

Rikku smacked her arm, trying to suppress a grin.

"I don't want to talk about it. How many times do I have to tell you?" Yuri was slowly going from talking loudly to shouting.

"If you never talk about things, or tell me what's bothering you, I'll never know! How am I supposed to know what I'm doing wrong?"

"Fine," Yuri sneered. "Let's talk about how you say I'm the closest person to you on this God forsaken ship, yet when you want comfort, you go and fuck the hussy next door?"

Rikku flushed brilliantly when she heard this. Paine had an idea as to who Yuri meant. When she saw Rikku turn as red a cock's comb, it confirmed her suspicions and Paine stood from the stool with every intention of backhanding Yuri across the room. Rikku grabbed her arm and shook her head when Paine looked back at her.

Nat saw this. "You don't have to be jealous, Yuri."

Yuri was taken aback. "E-excuse me? I have no reason to be jealous of a tart like-"

"STOP. Yuri, just- stop." Nat grabbed shorter girl by the shoulders and bent down.

"W-what are you- mmph!" Yuri was cut off by Nat's mouth covering hers.

When Nat pulled away she said in a low tone, "I like you, Yuri. A lot. I just never knew if you felt the same way. Rikku was… Rikku was just happenstance."

The raven haired girl was dumbfounded. "Y-yes. Well… It hurt Nat."

Nat's eyes swept the floor of the rec room briefly. "Why don't we go to your room and talk?"

Yuri nodded and they left.

Paine took a seat and saw Rikku smiling albeit a tad forlorn.

"About time, ya know? They've only been driving everyone crazy since I slept with Nat." She laughed bitterly. "That was over three months ago."

"Rikku, you know what I realized earlier?" The blonde shook her head. Paine continued, "That the acronym for Federal Ubiquitous Policing Authority is FUPA."

Rikku chuckled and smiled reluctantly, but at the moment it was good enough for Paine. "I actually never noticed that before." She fingered the orange garnish on her glass, then took it out and put it on a napkin. "Do you remember how I told you that I'd be lonely if I were you?"

"I do." Paine said cautiously trying to read the other woman's face.

"I was really lonely before you got here ya know. I mean, I have Turk to talk to and stuff but I mean, I miss the intimacy you can only have with... I don't know-"

"A lover."

Rikku looked over at Paine and saw this intense look in her eye. "Y-yeah. I don't have a good track record when it comes to dating people. My relationships never last long for some reason. That thing with Nat was just as she said. Well, what she meant was mistake but she was trying to be nice about it. It was never meant to go any further than it did. And I know that."

The silverette stood and held out her hand for Rikku to take. "I want to show you something."

"Okay." The blonde took it.

They left their drinks at the bar and Paine led them down the hall and to her room. She pressed the button on the outside of the door and it slid open. She walked in with Rikku's hand still in hers and closed the door. Paine turned to face the blonde and took her up in her arms and held her. Neither said a word.

It was Rikku who pulled away slightly, hands smoothing out the cloth covering Paine's chest. "I really would like a proper kiss now," she whispered.

Paine tilted the blonde's head to hers and kissed her chastely on the lips.

"Again," the blonde breathed.

The silverette obliged.

"More."

Paine kissed her again and slipped her tongue past Rikku's parted lips. Rikku emitted a small noise when their tongues met. Paine stifled a groan and gripped the blonde a little tighter. It was slow and sensual and Rikku didn't think she'd ever kissed anyone before Paine who made her feel like she was going to melt into their arms.

They broke away and made eye contact. Rikku was really making an effort not to shy away from Paine's intense gaze.

It was Paine who spoke first. "Stay with me tonight."

Rikku raised her brows. "I-I don't want to be…" Just another lay.

The taller woman had the beginnings of a blush dusting her cheeks. "I mean to sleep. Not anything else... Unless you want to."

Rikku considered it for a moment. "Yeah. I guess that would be alright."

Paine smiled.

Rikku's heart fluttered. "But we're sleeping in my room."

Her smile didn't falter. "Yeah, whatever."


End file.
